Voyanterprize
by A.l.u.t
Summary: J/C get in a fight after B'Elanna's ball; then Enterprise and Voyager crash into a temproal wall; Can all Voyager's officers and all Enterprise's men help get J/C back together again?


**AN: While this is _ technically_ a ENT/VOY cross-over story it mainly revolves around the Voyager crew and in the end is really a J/C fic. You don't really need to know Enterprise to understand the story. If you've never even heard of Enterprise the only thing you really need to know is the show took place pre-kirk, pre-federation era. If you hate Enterprise but are a J/C fan, I completely understand if you want to just skim for the J/C parts. :)**

Voyanterprize

by: A.l.u.t.

Archer sat in his captain's chair clutching the arms in a white knuckled grip. The klaxon of a tactical alert was making his ears ring.

"The Sulebon are nearly on us," said Hoshi Sato from her communications station.

"Archer to Trip," said the Captain over the com. "Can you push the engines some. Our retreat isn't going so well."

"We've almost got her at 5.2, Cap'n," came the southern accent of Commander Tucker, their chief engineer. "If I push her any more, we won't have warp at all."

Archer swore under his breath. "T'Pol, any word on Reed?"

"The Sulebon disabled many of our systems before we were able to go to warp," answered the Vulcan Sub Commander. "I am unable to locate him."

"Well, we're almost to the planet. Let's just hope…"

"Captain!" interrupted T'Pol. "I'm reading an anomaly straight ahead!"

"What'll it do to us?"

"Unknown, but I do not recommend flying into it."

"Travis! Hard starboard!"

Mayweather, the helmsman, adeptly changed course as quickly as he could, but it was too late. Enterprise nx-01 spun around and crashed nacelle first into the anomaly, throwing the crew across the bridge.

xxx

"You're looking a little perplexed, Harry," said Tom Paris to the opps officer as he looked up at him from helm controls. The ship was in orbit around an uninhabited planet while they were finishing up repairs after their last encounter. The Doctor was also taking this opportunity to give the crew their routine inoculations, since so few of them ever opted to come in on their own.

"Sit still, Mr. Paris," he scolded, as Tom twisted and turned in his seat. "This will go faster if you cooperate."

"Can't we do this another time, Doc, agh." He grunted as the Doctor found his target. The large amount of medicine in the hypospray was not painful to take in the neck, but was extremely uncomfortable.

"You next, Mr. Kim," said the EMH, as he made his way to the opps station. "What is it that has you so confused?"

"It's this piece of data," he said punching some buttons and cringing as the Doctor hyposprayed him. "I can't pull it up no matter what I try. From what I can tell, it looks like a transmission."

"Maybe it's the 'Archer Secret Message,'" said Tom.

"The what?" asked Harry.

"Didn't you ever hear that rumor at the Academy?" asked Tom.

"I believe I have a file on that in my database," replied the Doctor, as he administered Tuvok's shot over on tactical. The Vulcan took the hypospray with only a quirk of the eyebrow. "Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise-nx01 was said to have left a secret message in the Starfleet records that was to open at a precise moment in time only to the intended recipient."

"That is nothing but an urban legend," said Tuvok, "probably created by the overactive imagination of a cadet."

"I don't know…" began Tom but a thick silence overtook the bridge as Chakotay stormed out of the Captain's ready room. The look on his face as he took his seat could have brought a Borg to tears. Janeway's death stare that followed him out as she stood in her doorway with hands on hips was equally potent.

"Mr. Tuvok," said the Captain. "My ready room."

xxx

Tuvok stood in front of the Captain's desk, patiently waiting for her attention as she skimmed a padd. He could tell she was trying to regain her composure from her recent altercation with her First surmised Chakotay was probably trying to do the same and hoped he was having more success than their Captain. Taking a deep breath, Janeway finally turned to her security officer.

"Mr. Tuvok. I finished your report on our last encounter with the Hirogen. In the future, I would like you to make more use of Seven's tactical knowledge. I think we came out alright but I also think we would have sustained less damage had we followed her suggestions."

"I will keep that in mind, Captain."

"Weapons stores are back where they should be. Good job on getting that done so quickly."

"I had quite a bit of help with negotiating from Mr. Neelix."

"Yes, I'll have to thank him too, and how are your security rounds working with so many out for injuries?"

"We are managing, although I must say Commander Chakotay has been scheduling quite a few back to back shifts for several members of the team."

Janeway scowled. "I'll mention it to him. Thank you for your time Commander. Dismissed."

Tuvok remained where he was.

"Is there something else?"

"If I may, Captain," he began, "I would like to inquire about the nature of the disagreement between you and the First Officer…this time."

"Who says we had a disagreement?"

Tuvok cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh, alright. He authorized extra replicator rations and equipment for B'Elanna to work on the solar paneling technology she's been developing."

"It is a project worth pursuing," said Tuvok. "It would decrease our resource consumption considerably."

"It's not that I don't approve of the project," answered Janeway, "it's that Chakotay went over my head. That sort of request should come through me."

"In the past, you've always trusted the Commander's decisions. Has something changed?"

"No, it's just lately…" she trailed off.

"Permission to speak freely, Captain."

Janeway eyed her chief of security for a moment. "Granted," she said cautiously.

"I have noticed that since Lieutenant Torres' birthday party, where you and Commander Chakotay seemed to be getting along _rather well_, your working relationship has deteriorated considerably. While it is clearly none of my business what has happened to cause this estrangement, I feel it is my duty to inform you that the rupture is beginning to affect the crew."

"Noted," said Janeway with a sour look, "and you're right, Commander. It _is_ none of your business. Is there anything else?"

"No, Captain."

"Dismissed."

After Tuvok left, Janeway found she couldn't concentrate on anymore work. Tuvok had been right of course, or near right at least. It wasn't the party where things went wrong, it was after. B'Elanna's birthday had been a huge hit. Tom had created a ballroom program for her on the holodeck: a black tie affair. There Janeway had discovered Chakotay to be an excellent waltz partner. He'd explained it was from boxing; coordinated foot work was a must. Dancing was easy after that. They'd danced every number together and, in an afterthought, she felt a twinge of guilt that she hadn't paid much attention to anyone else. They'd left the holodeck together, still getting along and a little tipsy. Remembering that evening, her anger softened somewhat towards her First Officer. She played through the rest of the night's events; ticking downthe moments until things had taken their turn.

Suddenly she was awoken by a red alert. Janeway got to her feet and was on the bridge in an instant.

"Report," she demanded as she took her chair, eyeing Chakotay. He refused to make eye contact and her mood towards him returned to its previous state.

"We detected a bioship coming out of fluidic space," said Harry.

"We have yet to implement nanoprobe technology on the photon-torpedoes we've recently acquired," said Tuvok. "We are defenseless, Captain."

"They're pursuing," said Harry.

"Get us out of here, Mr. Paris. Warp nine."

"Yes ma'am."

Voyager shot off at top speed.

"Captain," said Harry. "I'm getting a reading on a strange fissure, dead ahead."

"I recognize this," said Chakotay, tapping his console. "We need to modulate the main deflector to…"

He never got to finish. Voyager crashed into the anomaly, head on.

When Janeway was shaken awake on the floor of her bridge, she assumed she'd hit her head very hard. Either that or she was dead, because hovering over her when she opened her eyes was the face of Jonathan Archer.

xxx

Janeway allowed Archer to help her to her feet and took a look around. The bridge was in shambles, and not entirely her bridge anymore. Most of it was Voyager but the end by tactical station was not. It was like half the ship was merged into the other. She glanced to her left and saw Chakotay on the floor under his collapsed chair. She quickly bent down to wake him. As he rolled over there was a brief moment when their eyes met but then Chakotay, realizing where he was, put his mask back on and stood up, looking around too.

"I'm fine Captain," he said sternly.

Janeway drew a blank expression and immediately tapped her badge.

"Janeway to all hands, report."

Archer stared confusedly at her for a moment.

"The com's on the wall, but I think it's…"

"Torres, here," came the answer. "I'm in engineering but it isn't our engineering. There's lots of injured down here too, Captain."

"Where's the Doctor?" said Janeway. "He was on the bridge when we crashed."

"Right here," said Tom, picking himself painfully up off the floor and holding up the mobile emitter. "I can't activate him though."

The rest of the crew began getting up as well.

"Tom," said Janeway. "See if you can find B'Elanna and get the Doctor up and running. I have a feeling we're going to need him. Janeway to Seven of Nine."Nothing. "We're going to have to get someone to go look for , try to get a fix on our position and find out what the bioship is doing. With any luck they're in worse shape than we are."

"Whoa," said Archer to Tuvok, who had moved to the Enterprise tactical station. "Hold on there."He turned to Janeway. "Who do you think you are coming onto my bridge and issuing orders?"

Janeway turned again to Archer.

"Captain Kathryn Janeway, Federation starship Voyager," she said as if that settled the matter. Archer's eyebrows went up at 'federation' remembering something he'd seen with Daniels. She looked around her again at the wreckage. "I'm sorry, but from the looks of things, this is mostly _my_ bridge."

"Maybe so, but we're not sure how much of the ship belongs to who and…"

"Captain?" said Harry from opps.

"What?" "What?" Archer and Janeway both responded simultaneously.

"We've got wounded up here," said Harry, awkwardly, not sure who to address. He was hovering over Sato who was out cold. Archer quickly stepped up to the opps station and took Hoshi's hand. Her eyes fluttered and she looked up at Archer.

"We need to get her to Phlox," he said.  
>"Your doctor?" asked Harry. "I can take her."<p>

Archer looked doubtfully at Harry.

"C'mon," he said. "She needs help. I'm not hurt. You can either trust me or let her lie there."

Archer made a quick decision.

"Hoshi," he said. She opened her eyes a fraction of the way. "Do you think you can tell…" he turned to Harry.

"Ensign Kim."

"Ensign Kim here how to get to sick bay?" Hoshi mumbled the affirmative. Archer nodded to Harry and Harry picked up the injured officer and carried her off the bridge.

"T'Pol, Maywether, you alright?" They both responded that they were. Archer turned back to Janeway, who now appeared to be in a heated discussion with her first officer while her other crewmembers watched tight lipped.

"…being stubborn, Kathryn. You can't just walk in somewhere and take over like you…"

"Like I always do, _Commander_?"

Chakotay's look turned even fouler at that address.

"All I'm saying, _Captain,_ is that it would benefit us more to try and work with these people."

"Like I did with you? That was a fantastic decision. Look where it's gotten us now." Chakotay's eyes were cold. Archer cleared his throat. Janeway and Chakotay both looked embarrassed and turned toward Archer.

"Captain Janeway, is it?" he said holding out his hand. She shook it quickly. "Jonathan Archer." Janeway seemed to freeze and then closed her eyes and irritably rubbed the spot between her eyebrows with a finger.

"You are, aren't you," she said. "Damn. I'd hoped I'd just hit my head."

"Excuse me?" said Archer.

"I'm sorry, Captain," said Janeway, looking back up at him. "Time travel is about my least favorite thing next to decaffeinated coffee."

"Time travel?"

"I believe she is correct, Captain," said T'Pol, taking over the tactical station. "In addition to their unusual uniforms, I am showing signs of temporal discontinuity within the anomaly we appear to be trapped in."

"What about the Sulebon?" asked Archer.

"There is a debris field also held in place by the fissure. Some of it is Sulebon. The rest, I do not recognize."

"May I?" asked Tuvok. Archer nodded. Tuvok analyzed the data. "It is from the 8472 bioship," he confirmed.

"That's who was chasing us," said Janeway. "At least that's out of our way. Now what?"

"I need to check on my crew," Archer replied. He went to the wall and tapped the com. "Phlox, you all right?"

"Fine, Captain," replied the Denobulan in a harried tone. "Just a little busy right now."

"Understood Doctor. You might be seeing some new faces here in a few. Treat them, will you?"

"Of course, Captain, but once we're done here, can we see about getting this aeroponics mess out of my sick bay? The pollen is making myPyrithian bat sneeze."

"Course, doctor." Archer punched the button again. "Trip, how's engineering?"

"Broke, Cap'n. No two ways to put it. Plus I got a Vulcan and an irate pregnant Klingon down here insisting they need to get to the bridge. What should I do?"

"Those are ours," said Janeway, and she tapped her com again. "B'Elanna, I want you and Vorik to stay put for now. Help out if you can. We're all fine here except the Doctor doesn't appear to be working. I'll have you check on him as soon as we figure out a plan."

"Aye, Captain," said B'Elanna.

"You catch that Trip?" said Archer.

"Sure did. I'll let you know as soon as we make some progress."

"Now," said Archer, turning to the Voyager command team. "Captain, I hate to do this to you, but I really think your First Officer was right. If we're going to get out of this, we need to work together."

"Of course he was," Janeway conceded, still not looking at Chakotay. "Our briefing room seems to be still intact. Shall we?"

"After you," said Archer and the two senior staffs filed their way into the Voyager briefing room, while Mayweather kept an eye on the bridge.

xxx

Harry ducked as he walked into sick bay to avoid the animal that swooped at his head. He managed to hold on to Hoshi, however and got her to the nearest biobed before he took a good look around. It looked as if Voyager's aeroponics bay had been dumped in the room from about ten meters up. In addition to the haphazard plants everywhere, Phlox's menagerie, especially those that had escaped, gave the room a jungle like quality. The bat had perched somewhere above them and Harry could have sworn he caught a quiet _choo _sound from it as it watched him.

"Don't mind her," said Phlox good naturedly, nodding to the bat. "She's a little agitated with all the commotion. She'll calm down when we get this mess cleaned up. What happened to Ensign Sato?"

"I think she hit her head," said Harry.

Doctor Phlox scanned Hoshi and administered a hypospray. She soon began to regain consciousness. "Hello there," said Phlox when she opened her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Giant headache," said Hoshi groaning.

"I'd imagine so," he replied. "You've got a nice sized bump, but you'll be fine. I've given you a stimulant so that you won't fall asleep and the painkillers should kick in any moment. Now," Phlox turned to Harry. "Maybe you can help me with this one over here. I've never seen his species before, and I can't understand a word of what he's saying."

Phlox led Harry over to another biobed around the corner. In the bed lay Neelix, a little worse for wear and more than a little frightened.

"Harry!" he spluttered. "Am I glad to see you! The ship crashed and I had no clue where I was at. Oh and aeroponics! The leola roots are everywhere. I'm going to run out before I can grow anymore. And then I was here and this alien doctor here kept trying to talk to me and I couldn't understand anything. Did we get beamed aboard his ship?"

"Easy Neelix," said Harry smiling. "Did you lose your combadge?"

"I only took it off for a second," said Neelix. "It was getting clogged with dirt. I'm not sure where it fell."

"You can understand him?" asked Phlox.

"Of course," replied Harry pointing to his own com. "Universal Translator." He took it off and handed it to Neelix who placed it on his jacket. "I sure hope the rest of you speak English."

"Can you tell what I'm saying now," Phlox asked him.

"Yes, thank goodness," said Neelix. "Where are we? What's wrong with me?"

"You're on Enterprise," replied Phlox. "You had a few broken bones but I've healed those to the best of my ability. You just need some rest now. Harry, is it?" he asked turning to Kim. "Would you be so good as to bring Ensign Sato over here? What she needs is to be kept talking. I think these two will benefit each other immensely while I tend to my other patients, When I'm done, Mr. Neelix, I would love to hear all about your species and I'm curious to know whether or not all of you have only one lung." Phlox chuckled and moved on to his other patients.

xxx

After accounting for most all of their crewmen and setting up search teams for the missing ones, Archer, Chakotay, Tom, and Tuvok sat around the briefing room table while Janeway stood agitatedly behind her chair and T'Pol presented a schematic of what Tom was calling Voyanterprize. She'd compiled it from whatever diagnostics she could coax out of the ship.

"As you can see here," said T'Pol, pointing out various parts of the melded vessel, "there is absolutely no logical pattern as to what is Enterprise and what is Voyager. The ship is composed mostly of Enterprise with the exception of astrometrics, the bridge, briefing room, ready room, and a shuttle bay. Portions of the crew quarters and a nacelle are also Voyager."

"Why didn't the alien ships survive?" asked Janeway.

"We believe," said Tuvok, "based on sensor scans, that the Sulebon craft and the bioship were too incompatible. Enterprise and Voyager, both being Starfleet issue, were similar enough to merge."

"So what are our options?" asked Janeway.

"We could fire up the engines," suggested Archer. "Fly in opposite directions."

"We don't have an engine," said Tom. "And you don't have helm controls."

"Chakotay," Janeway was standing behind his chair and was about to squeeze his shoulder as was her habit in briefings, but stopped herself. She made a mental note that she needed to quit doing that. "You mentioned before we crashed something about the deflector."

"Yes," he said, almost in shock that she still wanted his opinion. Maybe it was that he hadn't gotten the shoulder cue so he hadn't been ready. "I've seen this type of anomaly before. There's a way to use the main deflector as a kind of lightening rod to draw the energy out of the fissure and disperse it."

"I remember that now," said Janeway.

"How do you know this will work?" asked Archer.

"I can't tell you," said Chakotay. "Temporal Prime Directive."

"And you all just accept that?" said Archer looking around at the Voyager crew.

"It'll work," said Janeway. "I've seen it done."

"Aren't you just a little concerned with _how_ it works," asked Archer.

"It will not work," interrupted T'Pol.

"And how do you know _that_?" asked Janeway.

"Because neither ship retained its deflector."

"We could always build one," chimed in Tom. "I know B'Elanna could and from what I've read in the history books, Commander Tucker is pretty handy."

"That's an idea," said Janeway. "But where do we fire it from? If we could get out of the anomaly then we wouldn't need to build it."

"There is a planet with in transporter range," said Tuvok tapping on the console. "We could build a remote deflector and set up a timer for the firing sequence."

"I don't know if I want to trust something this important to the transporter," said Archer. The Voyager crew all gave him a strange look.

"The transporter question also is not relevant," said T'Pol.

"Don't tell me," groaned Tom. "No transporters either."

"Didn't you say Voyager has a shuttle bay intact?" asked Janeway.

"That is correct," answered T'Pol.

"Then we should still have the flyer," said Tom.

"But can we get it out of the anomaly?" asked Archer.

"I believe so," said T'Pol tapping on the console. "The fissure itself is only a few centimeters wide. Other than the portions of the hull directly in contact with it, everything is able to move freely. Our hull is coated with Trellium D. I believe that is what is preventing the anomaly from having any further effects beyond the original meld."

"So far so good," said Archer. "Say we do get a remote deflector built; how are we going to power this thing? I know Enterprise doesn't have a parsec long extension cord."

"What about B'Elanna's solar panels," suggested Tom.

"Good thinking," said Janeway."Chakotay, how's that project coming along."

"Well, we were pretty close to being finished," said Chakotay with a dark look in his eye, "until the resources got held up at the end."

Tom visibly cringed at the acid in Chakotay's voice."It should be alright, Captain," he interjected, before Janeway could respond, "I know the clock's ticking but B'Elanna's got a lot of competent extra hands now. She should be able to get it up and running in no time."

"That sounds like a plan," said Janeway. "Tuvok, I want you to work with T'Pol to find the best possible coordinates on the planet for the deflector. Tom, go fire up the flyer and make sure we won't have any surprises when we take her out. Archer, will you please work with my first officer to get the engineers the supplies they need and assemble the away team. I'd like to be on it. I'll be in my ready room. Inform me when it's time to head down. Alright people, let's do it." Janeway, Tom, T'Pol, and Tuvok got up and went to work, leaving both Archer and Chakotay still sitting at the table with arms crossed. Archer was a little dumbfounded at what just happened and was still trying to wrap his head around how this tiny little woman (albeit hard as nails) had crashed onto his bridge and taken over.

"What just happened?" he asked turning to Chakotay. "How..."

"She's the captain," Chakotay replied in an explanatory tone, although Archer thought he heard some bitterness.

Out in the corridor, T'Pol and Tuvok fell into step heading to astrometrics to run scans on the planet.

"I am curious," she said. "Do your Captain and your First Officer despise each other?"

"On the contrary," said Tuvok. "I have often noted that they get along a little _too_ well."

"I see," said T'Pol, raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps that has created…tension and that tension has now reached a boiling point."

"Perhaps," Tuvok conceded.

"It seems the next logical choice would be to relieve that tension, or else risk damaging the morale of the crew."

"Perhaps, but protocol would dictate the type of relief you propose to be inappropriate."

"They could meditate," suggested T'Pol.

"The Captain and the Commander are not likely to meditate."

"That does present a conundrum."

xxx

Down in engineering, Vorik was in charge of the crews to keep the warp core stable to avert disaster while Trip had begun construction on the remote deflector. B'Elanna was enthusiastic about actually testing her designs for the solar panels but she found she had to reconstruct her schematics from scratch. As she worked on the computer, she kept catching Trip staring over her shoulder. At first, she blew it off, reasoning that if it were her engineering room, she'd be doing the same, until her temper finally got the better of her.

"Is there a problem, Commander?" B'Elanna snapped.

"I don't know," said Trip. "Just never thought I'd be letting a Klingon into our computers."

She gave him a dirty look.

"That's not closed minded at all."

"Sorry," he replied. "It's just a different time right now."

"Yeah, I got that loud and clear," answered B'Elanna. "Klingons and the Federation do make peace, ya know."

"Federation?"

"You'll see."

"So engineers of the future wear mustard," said Trip.

"That's right."

"I think I'd like that better," he mused. "Red stands out too much. Whenever I'm on an away mission, I feel like, I don't know, a target."

B'Elanna almost had the design finished when she got stuck on one last subroutine. Out of desperation, she tried to access some of Voyager's files. Suddenly, warning sirens went off and the lights dimmed. Trip jumped to a console and frantically started pushing buttons.

"What's going on?" asked B'Elanna.

"Data from Voyager is overloading our system. I'm trying to isolate it." He worked frantically as the warp core rumbled going on and off line. "I found it," said Trip. "It looks like it's your medical database but there's a whole bunch o' subroutines that don't look like they belong. Opera, literature...what's Photons be Free? Attempting to purge..."

"Stop!" yelled B'Elanna, forcefully shoving Trip away from the console and trying to cancel the purge he initiated. She tapped her badge.

"Tom, bring the emitter to engineering. I found him."

"Those subroutines nearly crashed Enterprise's computer. I gotta get them out of the system."

"I've got them compressed," she replied. "And I'll get them out when there's somewhere else to download them to, but for now, I have to fix what you did."

"What did _I _do?" asked Trip indignantly.

"Castrated our Doctor."

"What?"

Tom hurried into engineering, held up the mobile emitter, and hit a few buttons.

"Downloading," he said.

"What the hell!" exclaimed Trip as the Doctor sprang to life, as well as Enterprise's systems.

"All there, Doc?" asked Tom. The Doctor adjusted himself baseball player style.

"I'm all here," he said, casting around a dirty look. "No thanks to whoever was fiddling with my matrix. What happened? Species 8472 was still on our tail before I was deactivated, and I had patients."

"Dr. Phlox has them now," said Trip.

"I should get to sick bay. There were quite a few of them." With that, the Doctor hurried out of engineering.

"What? Who?" stuttered Trip.

"That's our emergency medical hologram," answered Tom. "Bedside manner leaves a little to be desired, but he does a good job."

Trip just shook his head and went back to his console.

xxx

Malcolm Reed woke up in the armory with a massive headache. The room seemed to spin a little as he opened his eyes and tried to focus. What had happened? He'd been doing a routine weapons check when the tactical alert had gone off. He vaguely could piece together what felt like the ship crashing and a large piece of equipment falling towards him. He reached up and felt his forehead. Sure enough there was a giant lump there and his head began to throb. As he began to push himself up on his elbows he heard a click that sounded unmistakably like a safety being turned off. When he turned his head he found himself staring up at a phase pistol and a tall blue eyed blonde in a cat suit looking at him down the barrel.

xxx

"So this is the shuttle of the future," said Travis, as he stepped wide-eyed onto the Delta Flyer.

"It's better than that," said Tom proudly. "B'Elanna, Harry, and I designed her. She's roomier and faster than your standard shuttle pod or runabout."

"Old style controls!" said Travis excitedly. "I haven't seen any like this is years."

"You like them?" said Tom equally as eager as the young ensign.

"Yeah. I feel like I'm closer to my ship when I'm not just pushing buttons."

"That's exactly the idea."

"Mind if I fly her a little?"

"Be my guest, just watch out when you're…"

"Woo hoo!" Travis had already engaged thrusters and shot out of the shuttle bay. He snuck in a quick barrel roll before he noticed the quelling look from Archer.

"Sorry, Captain." Travis set a course for the planet exchanging a snicker with Tom as Paris gave him a discreet thumbs up.

"Our sensors picked up quite a few humanoid life signs on the planet," said Janeway. "We'll have to be careful once we're down there."

"They might not be hostile," said Archer. "They might even help us navigate the terrain."

"That's not what I mean," said Janeway. "There are humanoids but no technological reading. We can't make contact."

"Says who?" said Archer. "We don't have to tell them anything about ourselves."

"Prime Directive," she answered. "We are to avoid _any_ contact with prewarp societies. You never know what they might notice and we don't need to contaminate them."

"What about the deflector?" asked Archer. "We're leaving a piece of technology behind. Who's to say they won't find it."

"B'Elanna said your Commander Tucker helped her design a protective force field with some of the Sulebon cloaking technology. They won't be able to tell it's there and it's set to self-destruct once it's done its job."

"Looks like you've got all your bases covered," said Archer sitting back folding his arms.

"So then what's the problem?" asked Janeway.

"You've been pretty high-handed through this entire situation," said Archer, as if he was finally getting something off his chest. "You do realize you're not the only ranking officer here?"

"When my crew get thrown into a _situation_, I don't just sit back on my laurels and let others take over. If you have any suggestions, Captain, I'm open to them."

"I _have _been giving you suggestions," he shot back. "You've been blowing them off right and left. I know you said where you're from, you're stuck in another quadrant, but here you need to realize you're not the end of the chain of command anymore."

"Oh I realize that," she said, "but just because I'm here doesn't mean the rules we operate by go out an airlock. They didn't in the Delta Quadrant and they won't in the past."

"Captain," said Tom, trying to distract her from the fight. "Speaking of the past, how are we going to make sure when we get back that we don't end up right back here again? For all we know we might be stuck in a temporal loop right now."

"I'd thought of that," said Janeway. "Maybe we could leave a beacon in Archer's time with a message on how to disperse the fissure."

"That won't work," said Archer. "Even if both ships do get the message, they'll still have to deal with the Sulebon and the bioship."

"Well," said Janeway. "We'll have time to deal with that when we get back."

Archer rolled his eyes at Janeway's dismissal.

xxx

"The mother eating left foot for dinner," said Hoshi.

Neelix shook his head and repeated himself. "The Captain ate leola root for dinner."

"The mother ate lizard poop for dinner."

Harry laughed out loud.

"I give up," said Hoshi. "I'll try again when my head feels better."

Harry was still snickering as he handed his combadge back to Neelix. The three of them were sitting cross-legged on the biobeds in the jungle sickbay. Harry had been listening in while Neelix was trying to teach Hoshi Talaxian. He did have to admit, recent mistakes notwithstanding, she had a remarkable ear. In the short time they'd been in sick bay she'd mastered the basic greetings, introductions, and had a pleasant conversation about the weather.

"You were doing very well," said Neelix. "Instead of 'captain' you kept saying 'mother,' but it wasn't that far off. I was talking about _our_ Captain so I was using the feminine form of the word."

"What was she supposed to be eating for dinner?" asked Hoshi.

"Leola root," answered Neelix.

"The things you had her eating were probably more appetizing, though," said Harry.

"And that little badge translated all of that automatically?" asked Hoshi.

"Yup."

Hoshi was about to go on but the three were then distracted by Phlox arguing with someone at the sickbay door.

"Who are you?" said Phlox.

"I'm Voyager's doctor. I'm here to help."

"If you're a doctor, you've been exposed to quite a few more germs than the rest of your crew. I hope you don't mind taking a quick trip through decon. I'm sure you can appreciate the necessity after being in the Delta Quadrant; all those new diseases we have yet to run into."

"I assure you, I don't need to go through decon. I have patients who need me."

"They're all stable for now. Decon will only take..."

"Scan me will you!"

"Scans might not..."

"I'm not infected with anything. Scan me and you'll understand."

"No need to be rude," muttered Phlox, but he scanned the Doctor as asked."You're not here!"

"Is there a problem Doc," asked Harry as he walked up behind them.

"This man here," said the Doctor with irritation, "will not let me through." He slapped away the finger Phlox had raised to poke him. "He wants me to go through _decon_; a primitive waste of time."

"It is absolutely necessary, I assure…"

"Can I show him, Doc?" asked Harry.

"Fine," said the Doctor, rolling his eyes. Harry punched a button on the mobile emitter, stood behind the Doctor, and stuck a hand through him to wave at Phlox. All three of them jumped as Phlox's facial puffer reflex sprang out at them.

xxx

The away team was creeping through the woods of the small planet making their way to the clearing where they would be setting up the deflector Travis carried. Each of the others has a solar panel strapped to their back. The day was still cool as that planet's sun had just come up but the bugs were swarming and did not add to Janeway's already touchy mood. Janeway brought up the rear while the other captain was out in front. She was sick of bickering with him and was keeping her distance.

Archer paused and the group stopped behind him. There was something in the woods. Tom scanned the area with his tricorder but couldn't get any readings. Archer signaled to Travis to put down the deflector.

"We're surrounded," he whispered. "Circle up. Backs to the deflector." The away team did as they were ordered and drew their weapons. Janeway set her jaw. The leaves rustled and four masked aliensin clothes to camouflage them in the trees quietly stalked out of the woods towards the away team. Their weapons seemed old and worn, but the black of them glinted in the light coming through the branches, strategically obscuring the officers' vision. The aliens crept closer. Janeway's mind raced. Obviously her team had superior weapons. Maybe there was a way to talk to these people now that contact had been forced. They might be able to help them find where they were going. The attackers moved closer and closer…

Peeoon. Thud.

The aliens disappeared. The away team, confused, turned to Archer who was holstering his phase pistol. He toed the single alien that lay on the ground.

"That was the real one," he said. "Dead now. Let's go."

Janeway was speechless, but as the rest of the team was already moving on, she had no choice but to follow. She quickened her pace to catch up with Archer.

"What did you think you were doing back there?"

"Removing an obstacle."

"That wasn't an obstacle! That was a person! He was out numbered and out gunned and probably just trying to defend himself. We could have tried to reason with him."

"So now you want to talk? What about the prime directive?"

"If you make accidental contact, then the rules are different. Haven't you ever heard of diplomacy?"

"You're starting to sound a lot like the Vulcan High Command."

Janeway huffed. "I know you've had your issues with the High Command, and our rules do follow theirs fairly often, but they were put in place for a reason, not simply to be…a pain in the ass!"

"Then how come most of the time they are," retorted Archer.

Janeway stopped where she was with her hands on her hips. Mayweather shot her an apologetic look as he walked by with the deflector, following his Captain.

"Don't think about it too hard," said Tom, when the other two had moved on ahead. "If our plan works, everything will go back and none of this will have ever happened."

"Still…" she sighed. Tom and Janeway moved to catch up.

The deflector and the solar panels were set up easily enough, but the tension between Janeway and Archer was palpable. Tom and Travis kept their heads down while they worked.

"All set," said Tom. "The forcefield is stable and at the current charging speed, the deflector should be able to fire in eight hours. B'Elanna set it to go off as soon as it has enough power."

"Sounds good," said Archer. "Let's get out of here before any more of our alien friends show up."

The away team followed Archer as he strode off into the woods. They made it back to the shuttle without incident. Janeway felt maybe Archer was right but still couldn't shake how furious she was. She hoped that Tom's assessment was correct.

xxx

Chakotay didn't say much to Trip and T'Pol as he walked with them down to sick bay. He did need to talk to Janeway about a few things, though not necessarily as soon as she got back, but he could make it seem that way. She'd been more receptive to him since they'd hit the fissure and hopefully that meant she was moving past what had happened. Perhaps if he eased up on her a little… He felt guilty for how rude he'd been lately but she'd started it, hadn't she?

When they arrived at sick bay, after a quick check in with Hoshi, the two Enterprise officers made their way over to decon to await Captain Archer. Chakotay paused, not sure if he wanted to be waiting right there when she returned. He knew as soon as he opened his mouth that she'd know what he wanted wasn't urgent. Maybe he'd come back later. He made for the Doctor to act as if he were checking on him and the others in Sick bay.

"Doctor," he said. "I see they've got you up and running."

"B'Elanna did the trick as usual," he said beaming. "And I've made a new friend here. Commander, meet Dr. Phlox. It turns out I've got quite a few subroutines based on his work in my database."

"I must say it's been interesting meeting him," said Phlox, "though I hope we don't end up getting stuck in your time. It seems many of us will be out of a job."

"Especially me," said Hoshi. "Everything I do now, you do with a tiny little badge you wear on your shirt."

"Neah," said Harry. "From the stories you're telling, you'd make a great opps officer and the Doctor isn't your everyday hologram."

"I wouldn't worry," said Neelix. "Captain Janeway hasn't failed us yet. She'll find a way to get us all back where we belong. Isn't that right, Commander?" Chakotay thought he saw Harry nudge Neelix and give him the slightest shake of the head. Chakotay mentally rolled his eyes. It seemed that he couldn't escape this situation even when she wasn't here. His face must have betrayed his extreme discomfort because the Doctor took a step up to him and appeared worried.

"You're not looking so well," he said. "Is your stomach bothering you again? Food from a strange replicator can often…"

"I'm not here for a checkup," he replied. "I need to talk to the Captain when she gets back."

Harry thought Chakotay had sounded sad and he hoped that meant the Commander was ready to end whatever was going on between the two of them. Still, he thought Chakotay looked incredibly agitated as he took a spot next to Trip and T'Pol at the decon observation window to await the away team's return.

xxx

"What is happening?" asked Seven, keeping the pistol aimed steadily at Malcolm. "I was in cargo bay 2 regenerating. I felt a crash, and then I was here."

"I'm not sure really," said Malcolm holding up his hands and standing slowly. "I had a similar experience. Who are you?"

"Seven of Nine."

"That doesn't sound like a name. Are you human?"

"It is a Borg designation. I am human now but I was Borg."

Malcolm didn't really care to find out what that meant. It didn't sound good. For now, all he cared about was getting the pistol aimed anywhere else.

"Listen Seven, you don't mind if I call you Seven, do you?"

"Inaccurate, but I find most of my shipmates prefer it."

He assumed that was a go-ahead and went on. "I'm just as confused as you are right now. Why don't we go to the Captain and see if we can't figure out what is going on."

"Then you have not captured me?" she asked lowering the weapon a little.

"Not that I know of. Let's go talk to Captain Archer," he urged again.

"We cannot. The door is malfunctioning."

Malcolm went to the panel and hit a few buttons.

"You do not believe me?"

"We are on _my_ ship," said Malcolm. "I know a few more things to try than you do."

"That is unlikely," replied Seven.

"How so?" asked Malcolm indignantly.

"I was Borg."

"You say that as if it explains everything," he said with irritation, still tapping on the panel.

"As a Borg drone, I possessed the knowledge of thousands of species and their technology. Something as simple as a primitive door lock, should have been an easy matter."

"You didn't get it open though," said Malcolm, but after a moment, he hit the pad in frustration.

"It appears you are unable to do so as well."

Malcolm cast Seven an annoyed look. "I suppose you tried communications as well?"

"My own com is not working. I didn't attempt to use yours as it would be a foolish thing to do if I were indeed on an enemy ship."

Malcolm walked over to the wall and tapped the com. "Reed to the Bridge." Nothing. "Reed to Engineering. Reed to sick bay."

"It appears your communications system is down as well."

"Yes, I realize that," snapped Malcolm as he sat down heavily on a box of ammo. He looked up at Seven who still stood there looking smugly at him. The tactical alert was off so he assumed the ship was safe. He hoped Archer was trying to find him. He didn't fancy the idea of being trapped with this self-satisfied woman for very long.

xxx

Tom and Travis tore through the decon process as quickly as possible. Even though Maywether seemed to be used to this and was incredibly sportsmanlike when he slapped the gel on Paris' back, Tom would still rather have pared off with the Captain and braved B'Elanna's wrath later. Janeway however was still toe to toe with Archer, arguing heatedly about what had happened on the planet. It took the urging of Phlox, well after the other members of the away team had left for quarters, before either one of them decided to pick up the decontamination goop.

"I still can't believe you just shot him!" said Janeway, rubbing gel on Archer's broad shoulder muscles.

"He would have killed us just as quick," he replied, pulling up his tank so her tiny fingers could get his lower back.

"How do you know? You didn't even talk to him," she replied, slapping some more cold decon stuff unceremoniously below the shirt hem.

"When you've run into as many aliens as I have," said Archer, looking over his shoulder at her, "you start to recognize the look they get in their eye when they're willing to slice you rather than make contact." He did find it hard to look _her_ in the eye however, as she spread the gel under the waistband of his briefs.

"Don't tell me about alien cultures," she said, spinning around so he could get her back in turn. She put a foot up on a bench and gelled her thigh. "In the Delta Quadrant I've been hunted, assimilated, killed off I don't know how many times and never once did I have to resort to your type of cowboy diplomacy..."

"Well, frankly it works for me," Archer retorted, trying to keep his eyes off her legs, "and I've run into my share of enemies." He reached under her Starfleet issue tank with the slippery substance, thinking about how both his hands together would probably fit around her waist. "And I'm getting a little sick of your prime directives all over the place. They don't apply to me here. When you're out in the middle of nowhere with only your crew to rely on..."

"We are out in the middle of nowhere," she snapped, turning angrily to face him. "May I remind you that on my timeline, my ship and my crew are stranded 30,000 light years from home with almost no contact with the Alpha Quadrant and no foreseeable way back! And still, we hold to our principles! Still, we do not shoot down people in cold blood simply because they are in our way! I'll admit, I've crossed some lines to get my crew home, but I don't think I could live with myself doing what you did today."

Archer just stared down at her, neither of them seeming to notice that she'd turned into his arms and his hands still rested on her tailbone. They were inches apart and Janeway was breathing heavily in her anger, her body grazing his every time she inhaled. He felt his heart rate go up, ever so slightly.

The captains, in their argument, hadalso failed to notice that they were not alone, and various members of their crew were waiting for them on the other side of the decon observation window. T'Pol watched with crossed arms and raised brow in clear disapproval of her captain's behavior. Trip just snickered, elbowing T'Pol.

"Reminds me of us, once upon a time," he laughed.

"They are not like _us_," retorted T'Pol. "They clearly loathe each other."

"Oh, I don't know," chuckled Phlox. "Often anger is an expression of repressed attraction and I can't tell you how many relationships I've seen blossom out of a good decon fight."

"Perhaps," said T'Pol, considering, but deep down she knew Phlox was right and possibly just didn't want to admit it herself.

Chakotay, however, did not say a word and continued to glower at the two. As impossible as it seemed, he became even surlier at Phlox's comment and eventually stormed off.

"Guess he didn't need to talk to Janeway that bad after all," said Trip startled, staring after Voyager's first officer.

"Just a few more body parts," urged Phlox, from behind the glass, "then you can fight on this side of the fence." He flashed them a full Denobulan smile. Janeway and Archer seemed to snap out of their trance and finished their own reachable body parts up in silence.

xxx

Tuvok and T'Pol sat in the otherwise empty mess hall engaged in particularly intense game of Kal'toh. T'Pol had suggested the game as they had many hours ahead of them with little to do and would likely not have the opportunity for such a challenging match for quite a while. It seemed a logical pass time. It was also calming to T'Pol after her meeting with Archer following decon. She needed something to soothe her nerves. The Captain had been excessively agitated from arguing with Janeway. T'Pol was about to place a well executed piece when Archer burst in. Tuvok looked up at him and turned to T'Pol.

"Shall we finish later?"

"That would be best, I think," she replied. Tuvok nodded and walked out of the mess hall. T'Pol laid down her game piece and looked passively up at her Captain, who paced back and forth in front of her.

"That woman is infuriating," he ranted.

"You are still distressed by your decontamination with Captain Janeway?"

"Did you hear the things she was implying in there? That we're savages. That we had no sense of morality."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow.

"I heard no such thing," she replied.

"How could you not?"

"What I heard, Captain," she said, "could be classified as a simple cultural misunderstanding."

"Cultural?"

"Yes," said T'Pol. "Though you both come from very similar cultures, you have different rules for how you do things. What I heard was the two of you arguing about which way was better. You both seem to be stubborn and emotional and let those things get the better of you."

Archer paused looking thoughtful. After a while he sank into a chair, put his head into his hands and rubbed his face in regret.

"You're probably right, T'Pol," he said finally. "Thanks. I..."

"There is another factor to be considered," she added.

"What's that?"

"If I did not know any better, I would say you were _attracted_ to Captain Janeway."

"Attracted?" said Archer. "Not a chance."

T'Pol merely raised an eyebrow.

"You should apologize at any rate," she said, turning back to the Kal'toh shape. Archer got up and walked out of the mess hall, a little more discomforted by T'Pol's words than he liked and thinking about Janeway with his hands on her back, her staring up at him, spitting mad.

xxx

Tuvok was heading back to his assigned quarters for some peaceful meditation when he heard his com crackle. It was not at if anyone was trying to contact him. It was more like feedback. He moved back and forth, right and left around the spot where he first heard the sound. This time he heard faint tones like that of a woman speaking. He paused and then squatted. The voice grew in strength. The source of the feedback was on the deck below him.

When Tuvok approached the door where the feedback was strongest, he heard the unmistakable sound of a woman's voice. Worried she might be trapped, he worked quickly at the keypad and had the code to the door cracked within minutes. As the door to the armory swung open Tuvok was startled to find Seven of Nine and who he presumed to be the missing Malcolm Reed breaking apart from a what he could only assume to be what Tom Paris referred to as 'a make out session.'

"Do you know this guy," said Malcolm, eyeing Tuvok suspiciously from Seven's arms.

"I do," said Seven, straightening her hair. "He is our tactical officer."

"Seven of Nine," said Tuvok. "We have been searching for you."

"I was locked in here, as you can see," she said.

"And making excellent use of your time, I gather," replied Tuvok, raising the usual eyebrow. Seven did not have an answer.

"What's going on with the ship," asked Malcolm.

"I believe you should return to your bridge if would like answers," said Tuvok.

"Seven, I would recommend you report to sickbay. There you will find an Ensign Sato, currently working on an encryption so that we may hide a message to our future selves in the Starfleet database to avert the current situation. Your assistance, I'm sure will be welcome."

"How long do we have to complete this task," she asked.

"Seven hours."

Seven considered, accessing her cortical node.

"I can complete the task in twenty minutes," she said finally.

"Are you sure?" asked Malcolm. "That seems a bit fast."

"I am efficient," replied Seven.

"Well alright then," he said. "Call me on the com when you're done?"

Seven now considered Malcolm.

"I will comply."

xxx

Janeway sat in her Enterprise quarters, thinking about what had happened earlier. They'd been done with decon for two hours now but she still was troubled by how hard she'd been on Archer. He did exist in a different time. The days of early warp drive were almost like the days of the American old west, often it was kill or be killed. Plus Archer didn't have decades of interstellar diplomacy to fall back on or learn from. All he had were whispers from a few other cultureswho had their own agendas. And maybe just maybe, she had been using him to vent some of her frustrations with Chakotay. She sighed. She could really use his advice right now but he had been so hateful since B'Elanna's party. But could she blame him, really? Just then, her door chimed.

"Come," she said. The door opened but instead of a person, a small beagle came in and sat in front of her wagging his tail. She couldn't help but smile at him and bent down to pat the little dog.

"Hello there. Where did you come from?"

He yipped and wagged his tail even harder. After a moment, a sheepish looking Captain Archer wandered in.

"What's his name," asked Janeway, actually grinning up at Archer.

"Porthos," he replied. "Is he working?"

"Working?"

"Some of your crew suggested I send him in to break the ice, you know, pave the way for an apology. I'm not so good with the puppy dog eyes so..."

"He's working wonderfully," said Janeway, scratching Porthos behind his ears again. "I have an Irish Setter waiting for me at home. She was going to have puppies. They were due right after I left. They're all grown now. Molly probably doesn't even remember me."

"You'd be surprised what our four legged friends remember."

Janeway smiled.

"What did you want to see me for?" she asked, standing up.

"Well," he began, "first of all, Tuvok found our missing officers. Malcolm Reed and Seven of Nine were trapped in the armory. There both fine. In fact, Seven has even figured out how we can leave ourselves the messages so that we avoid the fissure the next time around. She's pretty inventive, even if she's a little different. I think Malcolm is quite taken with her."

"She _is _very smart," said Janeway, proudly. "Wait a minute. How _are_ we leaving the messages?"

"We're encrypting them and saving them as a part of the Starfleet standard database. They should open just in time to make course corrections."

"I'll be damned," said Janeway.

"What?"

"So the Archer Secret Message is for _us._"

"The what?"

Janeway laughed.

"The Archer Secret Message. It's been a legend at Starfleet Academy for I don't know how long. Everyone's heard of the transmission that was supposed to open up at precisely the right moment, but everyone always thought it was a myth."

"Well, for all our sakes, I hope it's not," Archer replied or else I'll be seeing you back here in about six hours."

"Maybe if we do end up here again, we'll all be a little nicer to each other the next time around."

Archer smiled and stepped a little closer to her.

"I'm sorry about the fight earlier," he said. "You were right about what happened on the planet."

"No, _I'm_ sorry," she said. She assumed she didn't mind his nearness since they'd already broken the personal space barrier in decon. Plus there was so much less room to move on these older class ships. "I judged without putting your actions into context. If you knew some of the things I've done..."

"I'm sure you've got some stories..." Somehow they had moved even closer now and Archer's hands had gravitated back to where they were only a few hours ago. His thumb strayed in between her waistband and the skin that had been made extra soft from the gel he'd rubbed there earlier. This time, however, she didn't look so mad at him. Suddenly, the door to her room slid open.

"Captain, sorry to bother you but I..." Chakotay stopped dead as he looked up from the padd he'd been reading. Porthos made a hasty exit and Janeway and Archer split apart looking guilty. No one moved or said anything until Chakotay's face screwed up into the most pained, livid, and distraught expression Kathryn had ever seen. Before anyone knew what was happening, Chakotay had decked Archer and sent him sprawling across the room. Without a look at Kathryn, he stormed out the door.

Janeway wanted to scream out loud at what just happened. Were they never going to move past that night? Still, why had she let things happen like that with Archer? He was certainly attractive and she'd had so little guiltless attention since she'd been in the Delta Quadrant, but she had to admit, any moments with Archer hadn't been guiltless. Was she still punishing Chakotay? Maybe.

Kathryn went over to Archer, who was slowly picking himself up off the floor. He had what promised to be a huge welt over his left eye.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"It's ok, really," he replied. "I'm the one who should be sorry."

"But..."

"I promise. It's fine. I've taken worse," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad we were able to make up."

Janeway looked into his eyes for a moment. They smiled as much as they could with his lid puffing up the way it was. She understood he meant what he said.

"Me too," she smiled back.

"I need to go record those messages," he said with a lopsided grin. "And you really should make peace with your first officer. He obviously cares a great deal about you."

Janeway sat down heavily after Archer had left, with her head in her hands, thinking about what he said. There was nothing more she wanted in the world than to fix things with Chakotay, but with everything that had happened she wasn't sure she could.

xxx

"Captain!" exclaimed Phlox, as Archer made his way into sick bay with an eye that was now swollen shut. "What happened to you? You should have come to see me right away."

"My captain is the same way," tsked the Doctor, as both members of the med staff guided Archer onto a biobed. "Won't come in unless she's dying, and sometimes not even then. What did happen to you?"

"Commander Chakotay."

"He hit you!" exclaimed the Doctor. "I assure you, Captain, that kind of behavior is well outside his normal character."

"Was it about Captain Janeway?" asked Phlox knowingly.

"Yes," admitted Archer. "He found me in her quarters."

"In her quarters?" said the Doctor. "What happened?"

"Nothing," said Archer. "Nothing happened."

"That's too bad," replied the EMH.

"What?"

"If a there was ever a woman who needed to be kissed," said the Doctor, "it's _that_ one."

"Hear, hear," muttered Phlox.

"Well, I didn't do it. Your first officer can sure throw a punch, though," said Archer to the Doctor. "I hope T'Pol doesn't get any ideas."

"Commander Chakotay is a trained..."

"Assassin?"

"Boxer."

"Are those two together?"

"No," replied the Doctor. "He's been barking up that tree for years now with no luck. They were even stranded on a planet alone together for several months and nothing happened."

"Are you sure?" asked Archer, incredulously as Phlox finished up his eyebrow. "Because my face sure feels like something happened."

"I'm a doctor not a couples' therapist," retorted the EMH, "but I suppose you're right. We really don't know, do we?"

xxx

What _did_ happen after B'Elanna's birthday party…

_Janeway and Chakotay paused as they walked out of the holodeck, stumbling a little. He pulled on the end of his bow tie and let it dangle around his neck while he undid the top button of his tux champagne glasses were still with them._

_ "They were real the whole time," said Janeway accusingly._

_ "That explains a lot," said Chakotay laughing and showing off his dimples._

_ "I'm going to kill Tom," she said._

_ "Do you really care?" he asked, grabbing her hand, twirling her around, and flaring the skirt of her red sparkling dancing dress._

_ "We could have been attacked, gone on red alert..."_

_ "Tuvok would have handled it." Chakotay spun Kathryn into him, grabbed her by the waist and led her in a few tango steps down the hall. "Didn't you have fun tonight?"_

_ "I did," she said, her eyes twinkling, though probably just as much from the champagne as anything else. Ok maybe a little more from the dancing. "But my feet feel like they're about to fall off."_

_ "Take your shoes off," he replied._

_ "Still," she said, doing as she was told, "I have so many blisters right now..."_

_ "I've got you," said Chakotay, sweeping her up into his arms, and stumbling a little. Kathryn laughed even harder. "Hurry, my quarters, before you fall and we both break something." _

_"Aye, captain. Best speed."_

_ "Engage!" _

_ Chakotay took off at a run. There was a brief pause in the turbo lift when an ensign got in with them, eyeing their formal attire. They had tried to ignore him at first but could hardly suppress their laughter. It was like they were a couple of children who'd stayed up too late. Slap happy, Tom liked to call it. Chakotay nodded very seriously at the ensign when the lift doors opened and took off at a run again. Kathryn nearly got dropped, doubling over from a new fit in his arms as he pelted down the corridor. When they reached her quarters she had to lean over backwards to enter the codes to get in and once inside, they finally collapsed in a heap on the floor. _

_As they lay next to each other on the ground their eyes met for a second and they were quiet. Chakotay reached up and brushed her hair out of her face._

"_We didn't break the glasses, did we?" she asked all of a sudden. Chakotay put his head up and looked around. He reached behind him and held up two whole champagne flutes triumphantly._

"_Nope."_

"_I think that's a sign we should use them," she said, jumping to her feet. She went over to the replicator and brought out a bottle of Dom while he removed his tux jacket. "Here, you do the honors," she said, handing the bottle to Chakotay. He quickly peeled the foil and stuck his tongue out as he popped the cork. Kathryn ducked when it hit the ceiling and shot to the floor. The champagne bubbled out the top of the bottle and Kathryn held her flute underneath to catch it. They both flopped down on the couch with full glasses, letting each of their legs cross over the others' in a tangle._

"_We both have the beta shift tomorrow, you know," said Chakotay, grinning mischievously._

"_Good thing," said Kathryn, "because I don't intend to let this bottle go to waste. It took all my rations for two weeks." They sipped on their bubbly drinks for a few minutes in silence, enjoying the closeness of the other. They'd run out of things to say but that didn't matter. It seemed like this time was for closing the distance between them. Slowly, they moved in without even realizing it. When she was near enough to him to feel his hot breath on her face, she closed her eyes. She told herself it was because she was sleepy or it was the alcohol but she'd never felt more awake and alive than right now. She stayed in that closed eyed limbo for what seemed like an eternity before she felt his unsure lips softly on hers. She did nothing at first, just letting him taste her but before long she found herself exploring his mouth with her tongue. As his kisses got more ardent she was vaguely aware of the glass being taken out of her hand and put...who cares where and his strong arms that had been around her all night, wrapped firmly around her waist once again. She drew him to herself with her leg that had been over his thigh since they sat down but as soon as he was close enough for her to feel where the night would most likely lead, she stopped with a jolt. What the hell was she doing?_

"_What is it?" he asked, pulling away from her and brushing her hair out of her face again. "Do you want to stop? We can wait if you're not ready for this yet."_

"_Yes, I want to stop," she said, extracting herself from him. This was wrong. How had things gotten this far? She turned away from him and moved to the far end of the couch._

"_Kathryn," he said, moving closer to her again. "What happened?"_

"_Things just got a little farther than I meant them to, that's all."_

"_I understand," he said, taking her hand. "I just hope you don't think I would ever try to talk you into anything you don't want to do. I love you too much for that."_

_Kathryn was on her feet in an instant. She couldn't reconcile why what he said had made things so much worse. Alright, not worse, but real._

"_You..."_

"_Of course I do," he said. "I thought you understood that. I always have."_

_She began to pace around the room. This couldn't be happening. What had she done? That ensign saw them in the turbo lift. This was unforgivable. Not to mention she'd let the poor man think that she could actually share something with him. It made it all worse that this was more than just a onetime thing. One drunken night should absolutely not happen either but this..._

"_I think you should go," she said. She couldn't look at him. He looked too devastated._

"_What?" he said. "If you don't love me back you ought to at least tell me so."_

"_Just go, please?" _

"_Kathryn...talk to me, will you? I'm still your friend no matter what just happened."_

"_Chakotay..."_

"_Fine. Fine I'll go," he said gritting his teeth as he stood up and stormed out of her quarters. She waited until she was sure he was well down the hall before she picked up the tux jacket he'd left behind and sobbed into it._

xxx

Janeway stood outside Chakotay's Enterprise quarters flexing her hands. She'd made up her mind to talk to him but couldn't bring herself to buzz. In the end she just walked right in. Chakotay lay on the bed with his arm over his face as if he could be sleeping, but she couldn't tell. He hadn't moved when she came in. He'd shifted his monitor over by his bed but by the cold darkness of the screen she could tell he abandoned it a while ago.

"Watch out for my boots on the floor," he said, not moving his arm. She paused. So he had heard her come in. "What are you doing here, Kathryn?"

"How did you know it was me?"

He peeked out at her from under his elbow.

"I always know when it's you."

She sat down on the bed.

"Chakotay…"

"We don't have to have this conversation," he interrupted. "In six hours, none of this will have ever happened."

"Maybe," she answered, "but we might remember and I think we do need to talk."

Chakotay sighed and uncovered his face, putting his hands behind his head.

"Alright. Go ahead."

"I need to apologize to you for the night of B'Elanna's birthday. I reacted badly and I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," he answered coolly.

"What you need to understand, Chakotay, is that I was scared. Everything became too real too quickly and you know that I feel that a relationship is impossible."

"I understand all of that."

"Then why have you been so cruel to me lately," she blurted out. A few tears welled up in spite of herself.

"Just because I understand doesn't mean I wasn't hurt and angry."

"Well you did a damn good job letting me know," she yelled. A few hot tears spilled out as she finally let go of everything she'd been holding in.

"I shouldn't have handled it that way," he said, "but you kept laying into me for the smallest things, which I knew had nothing to do with work and then I saw you with him…"

"I'm sorry for that. Nothing happened, but I suppose I wanted to get you back for what you'd been putting me through. You did hurt me, Chakotay."

"I'm sorry," he said, but this time he sat up and put his arms around her and kissed her temple. She leaned into him, the feeling of relief washing over her as she took in the warmth of his body.

"Let's stop fighting," she said.

"Agreed. Kathryn, I just wish you'd realize that what's between us is there and influences our decisions whether we pursue a relationship or not, and we're not exactly in a position to put in for a transfer. These are just the facts and we have to deal with them as best we can."

"Maybe you're right," she conceded, "but maybe I'm just not ready yet."

"Understood," he nodded sadly.

"But I do love you, Chakotay," she said earnestly. "Down to every fiber of my being, I'm in love with you."

Chakotay smiled as he kissed her softly.

xxx

Chakotay stood in front of Janeway's desk ready to burst with anger. He didn't know how many of these tirades he could take anymore and not mouth off enough to get thrown in the brig. Janeway had come around her desk and stared up at him, her face livid. Chakotay continued to focus on a point on the far wall trying to hide how much he was seething. He longed to yell at her that this wasn't about the chain of command and she knew it but he couldn't bring himself to do it and that made him madder.

"Commander this has got to be the last time you undermine my authority, do you hear me?"

"Understood, _Captain_." The stress on her title irritated her more and he smirked to himself. She was about to let him have it again when the ship lurched violently, throwing Janeway into him. He stood her back on her feet and she quickly extracted herself from his arms. She tapped her com.

"Tuvok, what just happened?"

"Captain, I think you and the Commander should come to the bridge."

"On our way," she said. She gave Chakotay a look to let him know she wasn't finished with him yet as he grudgingly followed behind her. Janeway stopped startled when she saw an image of Captain Jonathan Archer with a massive black eye on the viewer.

"Captain Janeway," said Archer. "If you're seeing this message it means that your crew was able to decrypt the orders we left and avoid the temporal rift that Voyager was heading for. If you were lucky, the 8472 bioship should have collided spectacularly with our Sulebon pursuers." Janeway turned to Tuvok who nodded the affirmative. "I would hope that that this also means my crew was able to find their own orders and the timelines were reset totheir original course. Only you, in the future, can know that. My only regret is that now, you and I will never meet but let me say that in this timeline, we did, and it was a pleasure. Archer out."

"So the Archer secret message does exist," Janeway said incredulously.

"Wonder what happened to his eye," said Tom.

"Are we in the clear?" asked the Captain.

"I believe we are," said Harry.

"I'll be in my ready room, then," said Janeway, eyeing Chakotay significantly and heading back to her office. He groaned inwardly and followed. When they got in the office she paused.

"Do you remember my message light blinking when we left?" she asked. Chakotay just shrugged. She went and stood in front of the monitor, checking to see who it was from. "It says it's for both of us." Chakotay walked around the desk and stood beside her.

"Play it," he said.

Janeway opened the message to find her own image before her. She looked a little disheveled and was in her purple tank top but the image smiled wide.

"If you're getting this message when I intend for you to, you and Chakotay are in the middle of the worst fight you've ever had. Even more so than the one over the Northwest Passage because this one has become personal. I'm here to tell you now to get over it. Whatever reasons you've invented to be angry with him are all to cover the fact you're upset about what happened the night of B'Elanna's birthday." Janeway and Chakotay shifted uncomfortably at that. "The fact of the matter is," went on the message, "that the two of you need to discuss it, accept it, and move on. How you move on, whether you decide to be together or not, doesn't matter so long as you forgive each other. Because of your childish behavior, you're not only setting a poor example but you're hurting yourselves and the crew. And, Kathryn, you know you're in love with him. Stop lying to if you can't be together, if you keep going the way you are, you are about to lose the best friend you've ever had. Don't be a fool." The message-Janeway reached to end the recording when she was distracted by a grumbling yawn from someone off screen.

"Kathryn, what are you doing?" said a male voice. "We only have a few more hours. Come back to bed."

"I was recording a message to myself," she said with mock irritation, "Now I have to redo the whole thing since you interrupted."

"Who cares," said a shirtless Chakotay as he sat up into the view. He wrapped his arms around her waist and began tenderly kissing her neck and shoulder. "You should tell yourself what a good job I did."

"You know I'm going to have to erase this," she giggled and then turning into the camera, "but he did do an excellent job."

"Several times," said Chakotay's voice muffled by Kathryn's hair. She reached for the console, but Chakotay playfully pulled her back to him and kissed her deeply. She pulled away. "Oh what the hell, I'm leaving it," then turned back to him, "and I'm addressing it to you too." The Kathryn on the viewer reached for the console again but Chakotay pulled her out of the shot by the waist and they both collapsed off screen in a fit of laughter. Soon she clawed her way back up to giggle _Janeway out_ and finally ended the message.

The Captain and her First Officer both stared at the monitor with blank expressions on their faces.

"I guess we make up," said Chakotay.

"But we can't…" said Janeway

"Not like that."

"No, of course not."

"Who knows what was influencing us during that," he said as they turned to each other.

"Telepathic aliens," she offered.

"Strange atmospheric conditions."

"Temporal displacement."

"I'm feeling a little temporal displacement right now," Chakotay said.

"I did say we had to work out our differences or else risk alienating the crew."

"For the sake of the crew then?"

Both of them threw themselves at each other as they dove into a passionate kiss.

"Computer, privacy locks," said Chakotay.

"But we can't…"

"Never happened. Temporal prime directive, remember?"

Janeway smiled at him as she cleared off her desk in one swoop.


End file.
